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Popular Entertainment

This Museum's popular entertainment collections hold some of the Smithsonian's most beloved artifacts. The ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz reside here, along with the Muppet character Kermit the Frog, and props from popular television series such as M*A*S*H and All in the Family. But as in many of the Museum's collections, the best-known objects are a small part of the story.

The collection also encompasses many other artifacts of 19th- and 20th-century commercial theater, film, radio, and TV—some 50,000 sound recordings dating back to 1903; posters, publicity stills, and programs from films and performances; puppets; numerous items from World's Fairs from 1851 to 1992; and audiovisual materials on Groucho Marx, to name only a few.

Basil Milovsoroff (1906–1992) made whimsical puppets as part of a WPA program. Milovsoroff emigrated from Siberia as a child. He created fanciful puppets based on characters from Russian folklore, such as the magical villain Koschei.

This puppet, a 28-inch marionette in the image of an exotic South American beauty, was designed and built by Hazelle Hedges Rollins in 1935. She created it under the tutelage of the renowned Tony Sarg, a major figure in twentieth-century puppetry. The puppet’s name, The Latin From Manhattan, was inspired by the title of the song, “She’s a Latin From Manhattan” by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, which was introduced by Al Jolson in the 1935 Warner Bros. film, Go Into Your Dance. This eighteen-string marionette is barefoot, has brown wavy hair, and wears a black and gold dress, with brocade and sequins along the neck, hips, legs, and ankles. A fringe of gold and black bugle beads surrounds the hips.

Hazelle Hedges Rollins (1910-1984), a native of Kansas City, Missouri, parlayed her skills at puppetry into a successful business. With her husband, J. Woodson Rollins, she created Hazelle, Inc., the world’s largest exclusive puppet manufacturing company.

The creation and alter ego of master puppeteer Jim Henson, Kermit the Frog is an American icon, recognized worldwide as the television star of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.

For decades, Henson's adorably zany cast of Muppet characters has entertained children and adults alike with music, comedy, and life lessons. Kermit served as a crusader for tolerance through his hit song "(It's Not Easy) Being Green."

The ventriloquist figure known as “Bob Campbell” was created by puppeteer Jay Johnson for the TV comedy series, Soap. The character of Bob was used often as an uninhibited alter ego for Chuck, spouting outrageous observations about various situations and characters. The series, which aired on the ABC network from 1977 to 1981, was a prime-time weekly, half-hour satire of daytime television soap operas. As devised by writer-producer, Susan Harris, the show was highly controversial for its time, dealing openly with such topics as race, religion, sexuality and organized crime.

Jay Johnson (born 1949) best known for his roles on the television show Soap and the Broadway show, Jay Johnson: the Two and Only!, is a writer, comedian, ventriloquist, cartoonist, magician, and puppeteer. The character of Bob is the most recognized of his many ventriloquist figures. Dressed in a vivid “mod” orange T-shirt and jeans, Bob appears to be the quintessence of the 1970s, the decade of his birth. A wooden control, accessed through an opening in the back, which triggers the movement of the head, eyes, and mouth.

The dummy Charlie McCarthy was the creation of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (1903–1978). Bergen first introduced McCarthy to radio audiences on Rudy Vallee’s show in 1936. The act was an instant hit; the following year Bergen and McCarthy began a successful run hosting the popular Chase and Sanborn Hour.

Puppeteer Jim Henson created this delightfully disagreeable Muppet character in 1969 for the children’s TV series, Sesame Street. In Jim’s original sketches, Oscar was purple; in the first episodes of Sesame Street, his fur was orange. By 1970, he had evolved into a green creature, a final color change that resulted, as Oscar explained, from the dampness at his vacation spot, Camp Mushy Muddy. Oscar’s gruff, no-nonsense voice was created by puppeteer Carroll Spinney, who also enacts another beloved Muppet, Big Bird.

Oscar resides in his own battered aluminum trash can. In the back of the trash can is a crescent-shaped opening, which allows entrance and egress for the puppeteer. Oscar is animated by a metal rods attached to the character’s arms, which are manipulated by the puppeteer. The puppeteer moves the head by inserting an arm inside the puppets torso.